I took my car in for paint protection, and while I was dropping it off, the detailer and I noticed some scratches on the chrome trim around the rear door, on the very point. We looked at the rest of the chrome and there are scratches in the exact same place on the opposite side of the car, just not as bad. He tried polishing the worst ones out, but just a little light polishing by hand went right through the chrome. I tried taking a picture. It was hard to capture it, but you can see some of the scratches and the circle of worn through chrome. He called someone he knows at one of the Tesla service centers and they said it sounded like someone prepping the car probably scratched it trying to remove the adhesive from the shipping wrap, and then thinned the chrome by trying to buff them out. I sent an email to the Chicago service center who prepped my car, asking if they could do something. Their response was that they cost $750 each, and would I like to purchase them. I guess it’s my own fault for not inspecting the car thoroughly at delivery. I know for a fact it happened before delivery because I’m terrified of the car because it cost so much, so I didn’t wash it for the two weeks I was waiting for my appointment, except for a touchless auto wash before I took it there because it was so covered in rain splattered dust. Closing the frunk was a sort of slow motion hand placing and leaning into it until it clicked because I was afraid of touching the paint as much as creasing the hood. I even started taking my ring off when I closed it because I was afraid it’d bump the paint. I know there is no possible way those scratches were caused after delivery because that part of the car was never touched. It probably wouldn’t have been so bad with just the scratches, but now there’s no chrome in about a quarter size circle that the rain etched water spots into today. I really can’t go spending the $750 for a new piece right now, so I guess I’ll just have the detailer finish the coating over top of the worn through area so it doesn’t corrode. I just wanted to share this story as a lesson to new buyers to make sure you thoroughly inspect your car at delivery.
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Inspect your car at Delivery - Scratched chrome not noticed.
- Thread starter AndroidDream
- Start date
Zroiron
Poodle Pack Leader
I noticed the exact same thing on our car! Of course, I'm 6,000 miles late. I saw those scratches. And wracked my brain trying to figure out how it happened! I will be damned!!
The chrome that tesla uses is the cheapest crap chrome I've ever seen. It's plastic really. The chrome on my car is nic'd and dinged and scratches all over the place. Only way to fix is to wrap it to a solid color. You can't polish this kind if cheap chrome as it's just a very thin plastic and will chip and dull right out.
talhas3
Licensed Real Estate Salesperson Rochester NY, NJ
What do you mean by this? You're saying you should have went with the cloth seats and just have it trimmed with leather later on?
Not much you could do about this. I have noticed that, at least in the Fremont service center, that some of the local service advisors now work for Tesla. I saw a svc advisor from Mercedes Fletcher Jones (known for poor service) now working at the Fremont center. So over time, you will get the same car dealer service because naturally Tesla will hire those w/ svc experience. I wouldn't expect them to cover this at this time
Old thread here, but just noticed this on my car delivered two weeks ago. In basically any light the chrome looks great, but if you get a white/LED/detail light pointed right at the chrome it's in pretty bad shape. It doesn't appear that it can be polished even with very mild Swirl X or similar.
I'll probably ask Tesla to replace it since my car is new, but honestly without carrying a detail light to delivery, no one would ever see this.
I'll probably ask Tesla to replace it since my car is new, but honestly without carrying a detail light to delivery, no one would ever see this.
idealsol
Member
When i picked up my car I had already decided on Xpel , full frontal wrap
My installer offered to meet me for the delivery and glad he did
He looked the car over carefully and found 2 paint defects I would not have spotted
I asked Tesla if I could bring someone with me and they said no problem
My suggestion on all deliveries is take all the time you can and carefully inspect the car
Make sure they note all problems in writing
I also managed to totally scratch the chrome piece that goes across the tailgate
Tesla wanted $208 for basically a cheap piece of plastic
I looked on eBay and found one used in terrific shape, it looked new
Cost me $50
Guess who's selling some of this stuff on eBay
The Tesla body shops
My installer offered to meet me for the delivery and glad he did
He looked the car over carefully and found 2 paint defects I would not have spotted
I asked Tesla if I could bring someone with me and they said no problem
My suggestion on all deliveries is take all the time you can and carefully inspect the car
Make sure they note all problems in writing
I also managed to totally scratch the chrome piece that goes across the tailgate
Tesla wanted $208 for basically a cheap piece of plastic
I looked on eBay and found one used in terrific shape, it looked new
Cost me $50
Guess who's selling some of this stuff on eBay
The Tesla body shops
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